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Conversation: Ghost Paintings—Discoveries from the Conservation Lab

Sat, Oct 26 | 2:00–3:00

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  • Registration required; free with museum admission

Two views of Amedeo Modigliani’s Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, a portrait of the Lithuanian-born sculptor and his wife, the Russian poet. On the left is a full color photograph of the portrait, and on the right is an X-ray of the portrait revealing another painting beneath the surface.

Amadeo Modigliani

Scientific imaging techniques like X-ray and infrared reflectography can take us below the surface of a painting, revealing secrets that have been concealed for decades or centuries.

These techniques reveal not only the physical makeup and condition of the artwork but also the context of its creation, including how artists worked out their ideas and made changes to their paintings mid-process, as well as ways they reused and recycled old painting supports.

Join paintings conservators Allison Langley and Kim Muir as they discuss some of the ghostly images hidden beneath the surface of paintings from the collection, and learn how these discoveries expand our understanding of the creative process.

About the Speakers

Kim Muir

Kim Muir joined the Department of Conservation and Science in 2005. Her work focuses on the technical study and scientific analysis of the Art Institute’s paintings. She has contributed to several online scholarly catalogues, including volumes on Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, and James McNeill Whistler.

Allison Langley

Allison Langley is Director of Paintings and Frames Conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago. Since joining the museum in 2002, her treatments and research initiatives have focused primarily on late-19th and early-20th century paintings. She has published on the artworks of Georges Seurat, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Mark Rothko, amongst others.

If you have any questions about programming, please reach out to museum-programs@artic.edu.

Closed captioning will be available for this program. For questions related to accessibility accommodations, please email access@artic.edu.

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